—

In front of massive building, numerous people were standing in a neat formation.

They wore strict expressions on their faces and stood like spears pointing towards the heaven. On their uniforms, a badge depicting a hawk capturing a head could be seen. There’s at least a hundred people gathered here each are divided into ten square-ish formation with their captains standing in full attention in front of them.

Luis walked out and everyone tensed up, the whole place was silent as they watch this man slowly walking towards his horse. This isn’t the first time that they saw him but his choking presence never gets old.

“Status reports.” Luis uttered, immediately the ten captains walk forward and saluted.

“Camp 1, reporting for duty. Emergency supplies covered.” The captain of the first camp reported.

“Camp 2, reporting for duty. Weapon supplies checked and ready for battle.”

“Camp 3, reporting for duty. Firearms supplies checked and distributed.”

“Camp 4, reporting for duty. Workforce headcount completed.”

“Camp 5, reporting for duty. Warhorses, fed and healthy. Ready for long distance travels.”

“Camp 6, reporting for duty. Food supplies checked and distributed.”

“Camp 7, reporting for duty. Medics on board.”

“Camp 8, reporting for duty. Legal documents ready.”

“Camp 9, reporting for duty. Transportation apparatuses, checked and secured.”

“Camp 10, reporting for duty. Spy Hawks ready for duty.”

“Hawk Force! Complete and ready for duty!” Everyone shouted in unison.

Luis nodded and calmly mounted on his horse, he took a careful glance at the soldiers on his team. After personally checking them, he then turned around and looked at the people behind him.

“Elite Force. Report.”

Instantly, five shadows popped out of nowhere. All of them were wearing a bronze plated armors holding their respective weapons on their side.

The first one to report was a man holding two sickles on his hand, he had scar running down from his left eye down to his right chin. He had black eyes, black hair, wore a lightweight bronze armor to protect his body and made the first salute for the elite force.

“Julius the Scout, reporting for duty.”

Next was a girl, she had violet hair and eyes with a bow strapped onto her back. She wore skin tight black one piece suit that covered her from the neck down to her soles, she was also sore a tight fit bronze breast plate and leg armor. She made the second salute for the elite force.

“Beatrice the Archer, reporting for duty.”

Next was a tall and brash looking man, he was bald and had a huge build. He grasp a great sword that is resting on his shoulders while also wearing a heavy duty bronze armor. He made the third salute for the elite force.

“Malik the Brute, reporting for duty.”

Next was another male, grasping a sword and shield by his hands. His frame was a bit smaller than Malik but not smaller than Julius, he also wore a heavy duty bronze armor that had large shoulder pads on both sides. He did the fourth salute for the elite force.

“Raphael the Protector, reporting for duty.”

Last but certainly not the least, a blonde who was definitely the smallest on the group stepped forward, she held a priest’s staff and on her waist, a couple of vials that was filled with different kinds of fluids were inserted and placed as a belt. She wore a neat white robe underneath and lightweight bronze armor. She did the last salute for the elite force.

“Merlin the Healer, reporting for duty.”

As soon as the elite forces finished their salutations, Hawk retrieved his sword on his belt and pointed it on the sky.

“And I, Luis the Hawk. Reporting for duty! Hawk Forces, move out!”

“Sir yes sir!”

***

“Ohhhh!” An astonished exclaim escaped through Malik’s mouth. “So those are our targets!”

If a normal person looked towards where he was looking, they would probably think that he was insane since he was looking at the wooden gates. But what they didn’t know is that Malik is using a Shared Vision with one of the Mirage Hawks, which is now overlooking the battlefield.

“I’ve heard about Lord Ants before, but this is certainly the first time that I’ve seen one.” Raphael said while tracing his chin.

“Looking at this scene, It’s quite easy to underestimate them.” Beatrice analyzed.

“I agree, the battlefield in chaos too.” Julius saw from shared vision the battle that is currently on going, there was a deep frown on his face since this camp is severely undermanned. The rate of extermination can’t keep up with the reinforcements from the ants.

“So many injured.” Merlin frowned upon checking the casualties inside.

“I-I’m sorry, we should’ve reported the situation sooner.” Jonas who was riding with Merlin bowed and apologized.

“Well, better late than never.” Malik grinned and raised his thumb towards him.

“You did well and this isn’t your fault.” Merlin added.

“We’re here now, we will handle the situation and everything will be fine.” Beatrice also comforted.

On the way here, Jonas told them the entire story of what transpired over hear like what he did with Luis.

None of the elite force showed any changes in expression but they too felt shivers on their spine upon imagining the destruction these ants could do once the queen finished her evolution. It was a good thing that this recruit did the right thing and reported as soon as possible to prevent this from happening.

“Bea, do your thing.” Luis’s voice echoed behind them. The girl smiled and said:

“Copy that.” On which, she stood on the back of her horse and drew her bow.

As her hair was being scattered by the wind, she stretched her bow fully and single line of light emerged between her fingers all the way to the end of the bow. Calculating for a bit, she released the arrow and it flew at the speed of light.

The arrow dispersed into bits of light and formed a huge magical circle above the battlefield. Beatrice then whispered: “Great Arrow Rain.”

Then, the magical circle flared with light and sent volleys of arrows below. The people and ants were stupefied by this sight, the soldiers tried to run but soon noticed that if any arrows were about to hit them, it would disperse into a gust of wind that did nothing to hurt them. As for the ants however, their shells were heavily damaged by the hail of arrows.

“Nice…” Malik praised.

“Raph, Malik. Blow down the gates.” Luis commanded once more.

“Oh yeah here we go!” Malik grinned fiendishly to which caused Raphael shook his head.

They too stood on the backs of their horses before gently stepping down. As soon as their foot touched the ground, they kicked behind and sprinted towards the gates. They were clearly faster than warhorses and it didn’t took long before they were in front of the gates.

Both of them stopped, looked at each other and nodded. Malik raised his great sword and Raphael placed his shield in front of him. They grunted at the same time, Malik slashed down which caused a fin-like air wave charging towards the left gate. Meanwhile, Raphael pushed his shield forward and also caused a circular air projectile towards the right gate.

The projectiles blew the gates in pieces, and just like before this cause the entire battlefield’s attention to gather around them.

“Julius, scout ahead and report after 15 minutes. Merlin, help the injured.” Luis commanded once more.

“Copy that.” Julius promptly disappeared into a cloud of smoke and flew at a blinding speed towards the ant hill.

Merlin also stood on the back of her force and took something out from her belt. It was a vial filled with pink liquid. Malik and Raphael saw what she was doing and immediately pinched their noses while retreating back. Merlin waited until she could no longer see Julius, after he disappeared inside the ant hill. She aimed and threw the vial at the center of the battlefield.

The vial shattered and liquid inside instantly turned into a cloud of pink smoke. It scattered at a speed visible to the naked eye, and any living thing that came in contact with the smoke or inhaled it lost consciousness, man or ant alike.

Jonas was shocked. In his mind he thought: ‘This people hasn’t even reached the battlefield itself yet they were able to shut down the entire chaos just like that. Unbelievable.’

And before he noticed it, they were already on the battlefield. Malik, Raphael, Beatrice and Merlin was already on the move. Raph assisted Merlin on escorting the injured soldiers to the treatment area while Bea and Malik are finishing the remaining ants.

Luis also unmounted his horse and took a long glance of the battlefield. The rest of the Hawk Forces caught up and even without orders from him, they began setting up camp and fixing the rest of the mess in here.

Larry came out from one of the tents only to see the Hawk Forces patching up the mess he made, as soon as he saw Luis, his entire body froze and realization dawned on him.

“I hereby strip you out of your rank and subject to law due to your irresponsibility. Men, subdue him.”

This one command from Luis, ended all of his dreams.